1. Field of the Invention
This Invention generally relates to electronic recording devices, and more specifically to a concealed audio-video apparatus for recording conferences and meetings.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is frequently desirable to record meetings between individuals in order to establish at a future date what occurred or what was discussed at the meeting. An important application for such a recording system is its use by physicians, attorneys or other individuals who are exposed to malpractice suits, grievance suits, harassment suits or the like. For example, one form of suit is based upon "informed consent" which is premised on an injury caused by a physician or other professionals who allegedly did not properly inform the complainant of the risk or risks involved in certain procedures and, therefore, the person damaged did not provide his consent to such procedures. In any legal action filed to recover damages in such situations the Court must frequently consider conflicting testimony and base its decision upon the weight of creditability that it attaches to the testimony of one party or the other. Therefore, depending on which side provides the most effective presentation of evidence or is the most believable may win the suit, although this may be inconsistent with the true facts.
Numerous patents have been issued which deal with recording devices. Many of these patents deal with surveilance cameras which are either always continuously on or are periodically actuated for substantially equal periods of recordation with substantially equal lapse time intervals in between. Typical of these patents is U.S. Pat. No. 3,739,703 to Behles which includes a dome of transparent glass or plastic material which is at least partially metalized so as to reflect a portion of the light rays inpinging on the dome from the outside. Such surveilance cameras are typically used in retail establishments and banks and their presence is normally fairly obvious. In fact, some retailers merely install the domes or surveilance camera housings without actually installing surveilance cameras. The visibility of such camera domes or housings are hoped to be a deterant to would be shoplifters or the like. Additionally, such surveilance cameras are typically intended only to record video and not sound. Thus, such surveilance cameras are typically mounted in the ceiling of the establishment and record the video through the dome or housing, but microphones are not provided for recording the audio. Either these cameras are constantly on and record everything or take sequences of photographs at predetermined time intervals. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,654,703 to Viera, a control is provided which includes an on-off power switch and various other controls for controlling the position of the camera and the field of view.
A number of surveilance cameras and their housings have also been disclosed in design patents to protect their overall appearance. Since these housings are generally exposed and placed in clearly visible locations, these design patents reflect a desire to make these housings esthetically pleasing.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,158,431 to Gutjahr et al., an apparatus is shown for psychological testing. The purpose of the arrangement is to evaluate the visual attractiveness of editorial advertising matter in newspapers, magazines, and the like. For this purpose, the subject is brought into a room, where he alone reviews the printed matter. While the person may be aware of the fact that a test will be taking place, he is not informed of the nature of the test. In Gutjahr, a cabinet is provided which has a transparent window through which the person's eye movements can be recorded and analyzed. The camera may be started by means of controls outside of the room or test chamber. Only the video information is of interest and there appears to be no recordation of audio.